McLean, Archibald

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: RD. M. Young, “McLEAN, ARCHIBALD (d. 1830),” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 6, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/mclean_archibald_1830_6E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Jp, politician, and militia officer; b. c. 1753 on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, fourth son of Hector McLean of Torren and Julia McLean; m. first Prudence French, daughter of Captain James French of De Lancey’s Brigade; m. secondly Susan Drummond, daughter of Donald Drummond of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a brother to the laird of the McGregor estate of Balhaldie, near Stirling, Scotland; d. 18 Feb. 1830 in Nashwaak (Durham Bridge), N.B.
    • It is not known when Archibald McLean immigrated to America. On 1 Oct. 1777 he became an ensign in the New York Volunteers, one of the first of the loyalist regiments to be formed during the American revolution. He was promoted lieutenant in 1779 and captain in 1781, serving with distinction in a number of engagements, notably at the battle of Eutaw Springs, S.C. Placed on half pay in 1783, MeLean went to New Brunswick with members of his disbanded regiment, choosing land on the Nashwaak River near his father-in-law.
    • McLean almost certainly lived in this way in those early years, but despite the hard physical conditions of the frontier he and his friends tried to emulate the life-style and manners of the British gentry. Of the many half-pay loyalist officer gentry who came to the Nashwaak valley in the 1780s, only Archibald McLean came near to realizing the dream of establishing a landed family there. His two marriages produced four sons, of whom Allen commanded a unit of the New Brunswick militia and William served as sheriff of York County. Of his eight daughters, three, and possibly four, moved to Upper Canada; Salome’s husband, became postmaster of that colony. The other daughters married locally and lived near their parents. Three of the sons had prosperous farms on lands granted to their father and Captain French, and followed the tradition of landed gentry by serving as militia officers and local magistrates. Helped by timely inheritances from relatives in the West Indies and Scotland and by their own enterprise and good management, they retained their social position and prestige into the second half of the 19th century.
  • United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=5584
  • Find A Grave : https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113397843/archibald-mclean